The invention relates generally to manufacture of leather goods, and more specifically to a method for manufacturing leather coin pouches.
Leather pouches capable of holding coins, keys, and the like have long been popular consumer products. A popular type of such pouches is a spirally folded flower-shaped piece of leather laminated to a centerplate. When no external forces are applied to the pouch, the several flaps lie one over the next in a spiral pattern, limiting the size of the aperture at the center sufficiently to inhibit the escape of coins or keys. When manual force is applied to the centerplate by squeezing opposite ends between a thumb and a finger, the force causes the plate to bow toward the leather backing, straightening the leather near the perimeter of the centerplate. This causes the spirally overlapping flaps to open, enlarging the aperture as more force is applied until the maximum aperture is attained. Removal of the items from the pouch is then accomplished by placing one's fingers through the aperture to pull them out or by inverting the pouch to let them fall out. The leather is sufficiently resilient that, upon release of the manual pressure, the pouch returns to its initial closed position.
While leather pouches of the type described above have been manufactured for many years, it is believed that such pouches have been manufactured by highly labor-intensive methods involving numerous manual folding and creasing operations that require a great deal of precision and manual dexterity. Applicants do not have first-hand experience with methods of manufacture employed prior to the invention. However, applicants' understanding of a typical prior art manufacturing process is as follows.
Manufacture of the pouch begins with die-cutting a flat blank. The blank is moistened with water, and a creasing die is then pressed against one surface of the blank, forming linear grooves or indentations on one surface of the blank at locations where the blank is to be folded. The blank is then folded and creased by hand. Each fold is separately made, and must be held in place with manual pressure as additional folds are made to shape the blank into the pouch, in closed position. A weight such as a brick is then placed on the closed pouch for an extended period of time to hold the shape as the pouch dries. A flat, relatively stiff centerpiece is glued to the interior of the pouch after drying, or at an earlier point in the process.
The labor-intensive nature of the process described above renders it undesirably expensive, and makes quality control problematic as well. Where errors are made with respect to placement of fold lines during manufacture, the pouch may not open properly. Even small errors can produce this result. Errors of small magnitude in placement of fold lines may also render the pouch unacceptable for retail sale based on aesthetic considerations. The pouch depends upon precise symmetry for aesthetic appeal, and irregularities are readily discernible to the eye of the consumer.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing leather pouches which is more economical and offers improved consistency and quality control. Further objects of the invention will become apparent from the description set forth below and from the accompanying illustrations.